Lou Partlow was born on October 9, 1892 in Miamisburg Ohio. His
name became well known throughout the Dayton Football circuit starting sometime around
1913. He was a powerful half-back playing for a local paper mill, the West
Carrollton Paper Company.

Lou's training methods
were primitive to say the least. He acquired an unparalleled endurance by running
along the Miami River through fairly dense woods. Large trees would serve as
opposing players. Lou became quick footed by running full tilt through this wooded
maze and dodging his rooted opponents. Occasionally he would lower a shoulder into
one of them to build up strength.

In 1914 Lou went south to play for the Cincinnati
Celts. Without Partlow in the lineup, the West Carrollton Paper Company felt that it
was senseless to field a team. By 1915 Partlow came home to the Miami Valley and the
paper mill team was back on the gridiron.

The local schedule consisted of teams such as the
Wolverines, the Miamis, the Shamrocks, and the most successful team of them all, the
Dayton Gym Cadets.

On Thanksgiving day 1915,
the paper mill aggregation hooked up with the Gym Cadets. It was during this game
that the Gym Cadets noticed Lou Partlow's superb abilities. He was recruited to play
with the Cadets for their last remaining game of the season.

The following year the Cadets folded; largely because of a
new kid on the block, loosely referred to as the Triangle Athletic Association. Many
of the Cadet players were absorbed into the Triangle team of 1916 and Lou was one of them. Later in his career he would be
referred to as an old Cadet player, even though Partlow only played one game with the Gym
Cadets the year before.

The 1916 Triangle squad consisted of athletes from three
local factories, thus representing a triad of companies. Prior to their first game against
a Northern Cincinnati team, the Dayton Journal referred to them as 'the consolidated Delco
Metal Products team'. Nonetheless, Lou Partlow was a smashing, dashing line plunger
on a newly formed powerhouse squad. The Dayton Journal referred to him as the 'West
Carrollton battering ram'. His defensive skills would develop over the next few
years, but for the time being, his ball carrying skills made him an instant hero and fans
went wild over him.

On October 22, 1916, Lou and his peers woke up in a Detroit
hotel. A touring car would pick them up after breakfast and escort them to Navin
Field, the home of the Detroit Tigers (later known as Tiger stadium). After getting
dressed in the visitors locker room, the Triangles made their way down the long narrow
hallways to the playing field. For coach Nelson "Bud" Talbott, the 7,000
fans waiting at the other end of the corridor weren't a factor. He had played in
front of much larger crowds in the Yale Bowl (Yale
photo) during his college days. For Louis Partlow and the rest of his Dayton
teammates, it must have been intimidating.

Perhaps Bud Talbott injected some of his experience into
the Triangle psyche or maybe the large crowd served as an awe inspiring element. In
the second quarter Lou took a short pass from Al Mahrt and ran it in for the game winning
touchdown. The final score of 14-7 left an impression on the Detroit fans worthy of
a standing ovation. The fans and players enjoyed a hard fought and clean style of
play. An athletic partnership between these two cities developed on the grounds of
mutual respect and lasted for many years.

Four years later Lou took the field at Dayton's Triangle
Park in a game against Joe Carr's Columbus Panhandles. The players of 1920 were
young, fast and strong. (1920 Team Photo)
Many of the names that were seen in a professional line-up were of All-American
caliber. Lou had been playing this game for nearly twelve years and was starting to
see some significant organizational changes. His sport had become increasingly
popular in the professional rink over the last few years. His body was still in
tree trunk shape but his noodle may have taken a few to many knocks. Lou had a hard
time remembering plays and many times could not remember signals coming from the
sidelines. These obstacles were overcame by a brief (on the field) tutorial, usually
conducted during the huddle.

In six days Louis would turn 28 years old. But on
this particular Sunday afternoon, Lou was not concerned about his age. At 2:30 p.m.
on October 3, 1920, Mr. McCoy blew his whistle to begin the first game of the newly formed
league known as the American Professional Football Association (A.P.F.A.). At some
point during the third period Lou broke through the line for a forty yard dash,
positioning the Triangles deep into Panhandle territory. The following play was a
give to Francis Bacon for short yardage. On third down and goal the signal came for
Partlow to finish the drive which he had started. It is safe to say that somewhere
between 3:15 and 4:00 p.m., Lou Partlow plunged across the goal line breaking a scoreless
tie and scoring the very first touchdown in the league. The significance of coarse
lies in the fact that the A.P.F.A simply changed their name to the National Football
League (NFL) two years later. Lou's small trot across the goal line is recognized as
the very first NFL touchdown.

Lou went on to play for the Triangles for several more
years, retiring in 1927. In 1941 the team joined together at the Miami Valley Hunt
and Polo club for their 25 year reunion. Dayton sports writer "Si" Burick
was on hand scribing the interesting details. A couple of stories surfaced that
pertained to Mr. Partlow. One of which originated in Chicago at Comiskey Park during
a game with the Chicago Cardinals. It seems that the Cards had a nifty All-American
end who was an expert punt blocker. Evidently he was pretty quick and could
penetrate the line easily. Lou's assignment during punt situations was to seek and
destroy this shifty little ball swatter. The first time the Triangles punted, Lou
staked his claim by literally picking his opponent up in the air and throwing him to the
ground. After this happened a second time the player complained adamantly to the
referee, "Did you see what he did to me?" the ref replied, "Yes and it was
the best I've ever seen".

The second telling on one of Lou's feats might be a bit of
a fish tale. The story goes, in 1928 Lou came out of retirement for one game against
the Chicago Cardinals. The Cards star player was a man named Ernie Nevers. At
six foot one inch, and 205 pounds, he was an All-American from Stanford, and a future hall
of famer (inducted in 1963). Supposedly Lou hit Ernie Nevers so hard during
this game that he never played football again. The problem with this story lies in
the facts. Lou may have hit someone hard enough to end their career in 1928, but it
wasn't Ernie Nevers. Mr. Nevers did not play the entire '28 season because of injuries and
furthermore, it was the following year (1929) that Nevers scored 40 consecutive points
against the Chicago Bears, a record that still stands. If Lou Partlow did come out
of retirement to see action against Ernie Nevers, it had to have been on November 24,
1929, the only time the Triangles went up against him. More than likely, Lou put a
pretty good hit on Nevers but it wasn't hard enough to end his career. For that matter, it
didn't even slow him down. Nevers scored all of the Cards 19 points during their
victory and concluded the following week against the Bears with his record setting 40
points. Sometimes you need to overlook the facts to reveal the truth.

The truth is that Lou Partlow was admired by those who
surrounded him, admired enough to embellish upon his legacy.

According to the NFL encyclopedia, Total Football II,
Lou died in Burbank California on April 14, 1981, at the age of 89 years.

The following was added by Orien W Dodds, Son of Orien
M Dodds, October 2007:

Lou Partlow was my grandmothers brother-in-law. He was very
strong man as I remember as a young lad. Lou was hired to dig a septic tank hole on our
country home property by my farther. Lou chose to use a scoop shovel instead of regular
spade shovel.

Over several year's my farther has told me several stories about Lou's physical strength .

One being Lou ran through our back yard carrying two bag's
of cement one on each shoulder when we lived in town of West Carrollton Ohio, as he passed
through while running at night he was unaware of the newly close line my farther had
previously put up in our yard, well Lou struck the line at full speed while running at
night he was not hurt this would have hurt any ordinary man.

Another story was Lou was able to swim at the base of the West Carrollton Dam water, allow
himself to be summered then hold his breath swim out of and exit the undertow of the
turbulent water and repeat this time after time, it was a full size dam and had strong
water's.

Another story was Lou played in a game where a celebrity was playing at this exhibition
game also anyway Lou made a terrific body contact hit on this very famous American Indian
Athlete, put the Indian under the bleacher's, the crowd moaned. Finally the Indian Athlete
come forth and asked who hit him, he was told and confronted Lou and said to Lou that is
as hard as he have ever been hit. (Quote from Frank Partlow). I best remember the Indian
Athlete was Jim Thorpe.

Also I remember Lou as having a very raspy voice, and a terrific appetite for his size.

As a young boy I was told by my grandmother he could eat a large mixing bowl full of home
made ice cream, plus more.

He had two brothers Frank and Siz and several sisters a
large family. Frank told me Siz was a terrific athlete but was to timid as compared to Lou
and was afraid he may hurt someone.

You may or may not want this Info. I thought it would provide more Trivia for Lou Partlow
from a family related member.as stated above.